Icarus
by BlueThorne
Summary: When Nero is kidnapped, he finds himself back in the one place he hoped to never return, held prisoner as his family launches a desperate search to find him. Sequel to Mockingbird.
1. Everything Turns Away

**At this point y'all should really just be used to me giving Nero a rough time. For anyone who didn't catch it in Mockingbird, Drew is my tragic Scalebound boy. That matters in this chapter and really only this chapter. And since that game got canceled, I am going to make up rules and no one can stop me.**

* * *

I was too hungover to let the phone ring more than once. Yanking it from the cradle, I let it fall beside my face on the desk. "Yeah?" my voice was a rasp. Even though I needed the money, I hoped it wasn't a job. It was way too early for work. I glanced at the clock to confirm that only to see that it was well past 4 PM.

"Is that how you always answer the phone at your own business?" Vergil's dry tone responded from the tinny line. "It's no wonder you never have any money."

"You know, unlike some people, I have to pay my own bills." Sitting up, I scrubbed the last traces of incoherence from my face and stuck the phone between my ear and shoulder. I could just about hear him grinding his teeth through the line. "So what's up, Verge? Or did you just get antsy after not getting to insult me for a few weeks?"

"Well, you know I thrive on your suffering." A smile tinted his voice, and I snorted. "But it seems I need a favor. There's an obscene traffic jam outside the coffee shop I usually wait at. Looks like it goes on for a few blocks."

"Must have been some ugly wreck," I said. "If you're at the coffee shop, then it must be Friday." Wednesday had definitely happened, but I didn't remember Thursday as well.

Vergil let a beat pass before answering. "How astute of you. I do hope you're sober. I need for you to go pick up Nero. By the looks of this, I would arrive up to an hour late."

"That place is across town from me. I would still get there after five. It would be faster to just have Mom drive into town and get him."

Once again, Vergil went silent to let me know I'd said something wrong. "You're an idiot," he confirmed.

Squinting, I rolled my thoughts around until I narrowed in on the problem. "Oh right, the trip." With Mom and Dad out of the country for their thirtieth anniversary, I didn't have anyone to pass the responsibility onto. "Alright," I sighed, realizing I had no escape. At least I could dip between traffic on my bike. "I'll get the kid, but you owe me a pizza."

"Very well," he snarled.

The traffic was just as bad as Vergil suggested, a gridlock that stretched out for a half-dozen blocks. Even the cars going around the worst of it managed to make the alternative routes slow. Well, slow for everyone else. I was able to weave through the snags, keeping an eye out for any cops. In any other case, I wouldn't have worried about them. I knew the city well enough to outrun them, but I couldn't grab the kid with a swarm of flashing lights on my tail.

At least I'd get to see him for my troubles.

Well, I'd get to once I found him anyway.

I was late, of course, even with all the reckless driving that Vergil didn't need to know about. By the time I arrived, the parking lot had cleared. During the other rare instances of Vergil letting me get the kid, I'd watched all the band nerds file out with their oblong cases, but now, I saw no kids waiting, not even Nero.

The place was empty.

* * *

Two men stood across the street. One of them was as tall as my dad and looked kind of familiar.

They both kept looking at me.

"Weird. I've never seen your dad late before, but I guess a lot of people got picked up late today," Drew said, his arms crossed and his trumpet case at his feet. "But your dad is weird. Always early."

"He'll be here," I said as I dropped my eyes from the men looking my way again. They would talk for a while and then glance at me. The younger one looked kind of nervous, but the tall one kept smiling. Something about them made it feel like I couldn't breathe in enough.

"You're not going to get in trouble for waiting late with me, are you?" I asked Drew. I hoped not. I didn't want to be alone.

"Nah, she doesn't care. Probably isn't even home anyway. I can wait."

That would have made me feel better if the men hadn't started to cross the street. The younger one followed the tall one. I wanted to run, but I had to wait for Dad. He would be there soon. If I went to hide somewhere, he wouldn't be able to find me. I needed to make sure Dad could find me.

Besides, I wasn't scared of anyone. I was just shaking because I was mad.

Drew's eyes narrowed at the men. When his hand grabbed mine, I jumped. "Come on," he said, pulling me back toward the alley I'd always seen him disappear down on his way home. "Let's go wait at my place."

I'd never gone to his house before. "But my dad-"

"He'll find us. Hey, do you know those guys?"

"No, I don't think so. Do you?"

"No." Drew's lips set to a thin line as he tucked his trumpet under his arm and pressed his right hand to his chest. Drew always wore long sleeves and a glove on his right hand, even when it was hot outside. I'd seen why once when some demons attacked us. As a blue-green light glowed from under his shirt and between his fingers, I wondered if the men were demons too.

I'd never seen one disguise itself as human except for Nonno. But if he could do it, other demons probably could too, the really strong ones. Demons felt different to me, though. Like a heavy smoke, I could always feel them close.

The men's footsteps echoed behind us, and Drew pulled me faster. We were running by the time we popped out on the other end of the alley. I saw the van headed toward us in time to dig in my heels and yank Drew back. I thought it would keep driving, just go by so we could keep running, but it stopped in front of us.

My violin case cracked against the ground as a strong arm wrapped around my middle and some cloth was pushed over my nose and mouth. No matter how hard I kicked and fought, I stayed caught. I started to feel kind of heavy like I was swimming.

"Are you really sure about taking them both?" the guy at my back sighed.

"We'll figure out which one we need later. This is our best chance," the tall one said. He had grabbed Drew and pulled him toward the open van, but Drew's hand kept crushing mine. I thought he might break it. "Come on," the tall man said to the one holding me. "They can stick together if they want. It's-"

A roar echoed in my ears, the ground shaking under us. "A demon?" the tall man said, frowning. "We don't have time. Credo, just put the thing down and let's get going."

The tall man yanked me into the grip of his arm. Drew looked over at me from the other, his eyes heavy and his breathing slow. I probably looked the same. My eyes wanted to stay shut every time I blinked. I couldn't move right anymore, just rolling around like the time Evie drank too much on her birthday.

"He'll get 'em," Drew mumbled as his demon showed up in a blur. Actually, everything was blurry, but I'd seen Thuban before. He looked like a dragon, wings and fangs and all that. Smaller, though, like a big dog. I was sure the shiny sword-looking thing was no match for a dragon, but I heard a screeching cry just as Drew whimpered and gasped for air.

When we dropped to a cold floor, Drew's hand slipped from mine.

* * *

The entrance to the place was locked, no sign of anyone inside. "Fuck," I grumbled. Vergil should have listened to my suggestion of putting a tracking chip on the kid. Unlike me, my brother was the type to always be on time. Nero might have gotten sick of waiting and wandered off somewhere. I would have done the same thing as a kid. Hell, I would have done that now.

As much as the kid liked to explore, though, he wouldn't have gone too far in an area he didn't know. The last time I'd taken him uptown to see the shops, we'd gotten separated in the crowd for no more than five minutes. That was long enough for him to be trembling like the temperature had dropped when I found him. Eyes wide, he'd clung to my coat while insisting that he wasn't scared of anything. I had to buy him a pretzel and some ice cream before he would relax. But I understood. Some memories were just that strong. They could drown you in an instant.

When I heard a clatter from the nearby alley, I realized the kid could have been hiding. He was bound to insist that he was just waiting there, not hiding. The kid was the worst liar I'd ever seen.

As I darted down the alley, the scrambling sound increased. It wasn't sneakers or small hands; instead, I found claws struggling for purchase against the concrete. A shining, pale blue eye snapped toward me as I drew my guns from my back. Someone had almost gutted the reptilian demon, and it lay collapsed on its side. A slur of grumbles and growls erupted from it. Its wings flailed. It couldn't have been much of a danger in a state like that. In fact, I didn't think it was a danger to me at all. If anything, it was trying to talk to me, desperation in its inhuman eyes.

"I feel like we've met," I said. "You're… that demon that's bound to that other kid, Nero's friend." I couldn't remember his name for the life of me, but I remembered the way his arm was coated in scales and veins of the same pale light that ran along the demon's hide. I'd seen the beast crush another demon's skull between its massive fangs while standing guard in front of Nero and his friend. And I'd seen the way Nero's friend clutched his shoulder against a gash that the demon had gotten on its own shoulder.

The two were bound by their lives and to their deaths. "Damn," I said. "What happened to your kid?"

Stupid question since the demon couldn't answer. It turned its eyes toward the road nearby and jerked its jaw to the left.

"Couldn't have walked away on his own," I realized. "Something took him."

The demon snarled, snapping its head down in a nod. Its tail, curled around some black objects, dragged the things my way. As they scratched against the pavement, I recognized their shapes - instrument cases, one for the friend's trumpet and one for Nero's violin.

A chill spread through my veins, my heart racing as I remembered how Nero always stayed glued to his friend's side when they were together. "Nero is with him," I said, and the demon nodded even though I already knew that would be the case. Either Nero had chased after his friend, or something strong enough to take down the demon had nabbed both kids. I doubted Nero would have left his violin behind willingly.

"You're bound to your kid. You can track him, right?" I demanded from the demon. As soon as it nodded, I darted back to my bike. Mom was always shoving vital stars into my hands anytime I visited, and Vergil didn't want his kid near my bike unless I carried first aid equipment, so I grabbed one of the dozen vital stars from the pack. I'd given Dad vital stars before but never any other demons, never one so inhuman.

The demon's razor fangs snapped down so close to my hand that they scraped against the palm of my gloves. As I snatched my hand back, the demon renewed its struggle to stand. "Hey, you have to give it a second," I said. "You'll just keep your wound torn open if you don't let it heal."

It snorted like an irritable bull, shaking its head free of grogginess or my words. I had to jump back to keep it from bowling me over as it shot out toward the street. Trying to turn made its feet slip out from under it again, but it leaped back up and was out of view before I could yell, "Shit! Wait!"

No way in hell could I ever keep up with that galloping demon on foot, so I raced back to my bike and skidded off after it. The two of us must have been a sight to see for the people we tore past. Though not as fast as my bike, the demon whipped into turns and kept a breakneck pace that almost landed me in an ugly crash on more than one occasion.

I tried to stay focused on the idea that I would get Nero and his friend back. I would just find them with the people who took them and get them back. Break a few skulls and save the day, just like always.

Except, I'd seen enough grisly scenes to know that wasn't always the case, and as the demon led us out of the city and toward barren backroads surrounded by trees, my hands tightened on the handlebars. Through my building rage, I felt sick. Nero needed to be okay when I found him. He had to be. And if someone or something had put even a single a bruise on him, they would have a slow death.

The demon stumbled at one point like it had tripped over some tree roots. I had to slow down to keep from overtaking it as it limped a few steps before unfurling wings, wider than I was tall. With two harsh flaps, it shot up between the overhanging branches and continued on overhead.

It was a pain in the ass to try to follow it that way without crashing into a tree, at least until I realized we were headed toward the massive column of smoke rising in the distance.

I was definitely going to throw up.

The fire was on the outside of the forest, a smoldering wreck of a van just off the road. No one seemed to be inside. God, I hoped no one was inside.

The demon had found a kid, though, unconscious and far from the wreckage. Just one kid and not my kid.

My whole body felt like lead as I realized I was going to have to tell Vergil that something had taken Nero again.

* * *

I couldn't move without everything spinning, but I sat up anyway and waited until I could see straight. Deep breaths just barely kept me from throwing up. My hands were stuck behind my back from some kind of tie, and my shoulders hurt the more I tried to pull on it.

"Are you feeling alright?"

It was the voice of the young guy who had hurt Thuban. I blinked hard to see him clearly as he kneeled down in front of me. He looked as old as the high school kids who had their orchestra concerts after ours. With short brown hair and brown eyes, I didn't sense anything from him that wasn't human.

Drew was still lying beside me. His hands were tied behind his back too with some thin piece of plastic. His face was the same color as his hair, and he was still breathing wrong. He wasn't going to die, was he?

My sight blurred again, this time from tears, but I blinked them back. I would not cry in front of these people.

"You should lie down, or you might fall over," the young guy said, starting to reach for my shoulder. I turned to bite him, but he jerked his hand back.

A laugh from behind me made my skin feel cold. "Whoa, easy there." The older man's hand landed hard on my shoulder and pushed me back to the floor of the van. I could feel it rumbling under my cheek. We were going somewhere. Another man must have been driving up at the front, but I couldn't see him.

"Looks like the drug didn't hit you as hard. That's good," the older man continued. "Think we might have overdone it with your friend."

His voice was so nice, like the way Nonno always talked, but his hand gripped my shoulder like teeth biting down. "Let go!" I yelled.

Drew's eyes shot open, flashing pale blue for an instant. "Hey!" He sat up and glared over his shoulder at the older man, but a hand grabbed his shoulder too and smacked him back down.

"Goodness, you boys are all fire." The older man's eyes crinkled when he smiled. His hair was blond like dry grass, and he still seemed human, but at the same time, he didn't. Something about him made me feel like I needed hide from his eyes. "Now then, which one of you is Nero?"

My eyebrows pinched. What a weird question.

"I am," Drew said.

My eyes shot wide, but he looked calm, his eyes harsh.

"What? No, I am!" I tried to fight against the grip on my shoulder again, but the man squeezed so hard I thought my bones might break.

"He's lying. It's me."

"No! I'm Nero!"

"I'm Nero Sparda."

"That's me!"

The older man burst into laughter. "Oh, you're really doing this? It is cute, but we don't have a lot of time. What do you think, Credo? How should we proceed in a case like this?"

It sounded like when Dad asked me a test question from one of my books. The younger man, Credo, blinked and cleared his throat. "Uh, I would test their knowledge of… our destination. The real Nero would react, right?"

"It's a good idea, kiddo. Fifteen points."

"Only fifteen?" Credo mumbled.

"Problem is, then the other kid knows where we're going, and that's an issue. So we'll do it this way. I'll give you one more chance, boys. Which one's Nero?"

We answered at the same time, and Drew still said he was me. My heart jumped up into my throat as the man flicked out a pocket knife, but he just used it to cut the plastic off Drew's wrists. Maybe he figured it out, or maybe he thought Drew was me.

Then he took Drew's arm in his hands and snapped backward it at the elbow.

I screamed. Drew screamed louder, curling in on himself and yelling until his voice seemed to tear apart. Tears filled his eyes as he hissed air between his teeth.

"Oh my god, sir." Credo's voice shook.

"Sorry about that," the man called Sir said. He sounded sorry, but he wasn't. I didn't believe it.

"How dare you!?" I'd heard Dad say that before. It didn't sound as scary when I said it. Before I could try to bite his stupid, evil face, Sir caught my shoulder again. The world rang when my head hit the floor.

"Easy there. I didn't want to have to hurt anyone, and I don't want to have to hurt anyone else either. Now, which of you is Nero?"

Even though his eyes were open, Drew didn't seem awake anymore. I wanted to yell at them, to fight and kick and scream, but my mouth was too dry. All I could do was whisper. "I'm Nero. Please don't hurt my friend again. Let him go. Please. Please ."

"Well, is that true?" Sir asked Drew, but Drew just breathed a sob. Sir clicked his tongue, and the plastic around my wrists snapped off. "I need a confirmation." Rough hands gripped my arm, but another set closed over them.

"Sir, wait!"

From the corner of my eye, I could see Credo shaking as much as I was. "Just let me try something, alright?"

Leaning back, Sir shrugged. "Go for it, kiddo, but make it quick. We're almost to the car."

I couldn't move. I just laid there, still waiting for pain to hit me. Credo placed a gentle hand to the top of Drew's head. "Can you hear me?" Credo asked. "Can you tell me your name?"

Drew breathed a quiet whine, so I spoke for him. "That's Drew," I said. "He's my friend. Please let him go."

"Nero, don't," Drew murmured. I could see all his pain in his eyes.

Though I felt like my arms and legs turned to jelly, I crawled closer to Drew.

"Can we let them stay untied until we get to the car?" Credo asked.

Sir shrugged. "Your choice. Six points."

Credo sighed, but at least I got to hold Drew's hand tight until the van stopped. He was asleep by then. When Sir grabbed my arm again, I froze up. A needle jammed into the crook of my arm. "Careful how much you give him," Credo said. "He's so small."

"Eh, he's a demon. He'll be fine."

"Not a demon!" I said. Some kind of clear liquid pushed into my arm no matter how much I tried to pull away. Even after Sir pulled the needle out, he wouldn't let go of my arm. I had no way to run when the back doors of the van opened. Nowhere to run to either. We were in the middle of nowhere, and the sun had gone down. The chilly night air sank into me.

Credo tried to pick up Drew without hitting his backward arm. "Sorry, sorry," he kept saying under his breath.

I started to feel too heavy for my legs. So heavy. So tired. "Poor kid," I heard Credo say as warm arms wrapped around me and scooped me up.

"That's not a kid," Sir said. "Remember that. Put him in the trunk. We need to go."

* * *

Considering how utterly reckless he was on that bike, Dante should have been able to return to the house before I did. The longer I waited there alone, the more I tapped my foot and drummed my fingers against the arm of the couch. He'd better not have taken Nero to that shop, but then again, with how much time had passed, that may have been better than the alternative.

I tried not to think about it. No one answered when called the shop again.

By the time I heard the bike rumbling outside, I was so tense that I had to keep myself from tearing the doorknob off as I rushed outside to meet him. I froze as soon as I was out, trying to look the picture of calm. Not that it mattered. Dante could always see right through me.

He turned toward me with hesitance. When I saw the darkened anxiety in his eyes, my chest grew tight. If Dante had a reason to look upset, then something was very wrong.

As Dante pulled off the helmet on the boy at his back, the demon bound to Nero's friend Drew shot down from the sky with something black clutched between its claws and in its mouth. I felt like pieces to a puzzle were slipping through my fingers.

"You have the wrong child." My voice was void of the anger I tried to summon. "You were gone for so long. How did you get the wrong child?"

Drew's left arm was in a makeshift sling tied from Dante's coat. His right held tight to Dante as my brother tried to lead him from the bike. My fists shook at my sides, my desperation for answers growing, but I had to bite my tongue. With Drew's eyes wide and misted, I was certain a loud noise would startle him. I'd never seen him that way before. He was a rambunctious child and a bad influence at times. Now, he looked small as he pressed to the demon's neck. It gave him the thing from its claws - a trumpet case. Dante took the violin one from between its teeth.

"Someone took Nero," Dante said as he looked over the scuffed case. "I don't know who. I couldn't track them. He was gone before I got there."

My brother would never have let anything happen to Nero, not without letting himself be torn apart first. I knew that. I'd seen it. This wasn't Dante's fault.

But I wanted to grab him by the throat and demand he fix this. Someone needed to pay for my son being taken again. Questions flashed through my head as I struggled to keep my breathing steady. All that kept me from snapping was Drew's weary voice cutting through my thoughts.

"They grabbed us both," he said, hugging his trumpet like a stuffed toy. "But they wanted Nero. Couldn't tell us apart. They kept asking."

"Let's go inside, kid," Dante said with a sigh. He wasn't supposed to be so damn resigned. He should have been out looking for Nero. I should have been out looking, but I let Dante tug me back inside.

As Drew recounted what happened, I fought down the burning desire to shatter everything nearby. I would have razed that house down to its foundation had I let myself slip for even a moment. Nero was gone. My son had been taken and we weren't doing anything about it.

Dante watched me throughout Drew's story. He stood between me and the boy, and I couldn't fault him for the caution. I wasn't mad at Drew. I wasn't. But I was furious with everything. I couldn't think straight. The world was crumbling around me.

"If they were demons, they would have known which of them was Nero, would have been able to smell his blood," Dante said once Drew's trembling voice tapered off. The demon bound to the boy lay across his lap on the couch like some oversized cat as Drew curled over it, hugging its neck.

"Humans," I said. "Humans who were strong enough to harm a demon and ruthless enough to harm a boy took my son. Whoever they are, they're dead men now."

Conflict screwed up Dante's expression. I was not so weak. Both Mom and Father had sat us down at different times to explain why we shouldn't kill humans, but I saw no difference between these humans and demons. Besides, they wouldn't be the first I'd killed. Just another stain on my marred record.

"Maybe they weren't really after Nero." Dante's tone darkened with accusation. "Maybe they were after you. Maybe they want revenge for someone you killed before. I always knew that damn job of yours would come back to bite us."

Tension jerked my shoulders back, my eyes wide as fury clawed its way out of my chest. "You're going to blame this on me? I've always covered my tracks. There's no way-"

Unless he was right. I bit my tongue hard enough for the taste of blood to fill my mouth. I had more enemies than I could count. This could have been for revenge or ransom. I had no way to know, but I could not accept all the blame.

"You should have caught them," I snarled. "You should have been able to get to him, and you couldn't even do that." I so desperately wanted a fight, wanted him to tear into me. I felt like a starving dog.

But his shoulders sank under my challenge. "I know. I'm sorry."

That wasn't what I wanted. He wasn't supposed to take the blame. No, nothing was going right. I'd lost all grasp on reason. With a harsh sigh, I brushed my hand back through my hair. Drew 's accusatory eyes flashed between us. His fear had vanished, replaced with the irritation Nero had picked up from him in recent weeks.

"You're both stupid," he said. "It's not nobody's fault 'cept those bastards that took him."

It seemed Dante wasn't lying when he claimed innocence of muddying Nero's vocabulary. I'd found the culprit.

"If you're not gonna go look for him, I'm gonna." Drew kicked his feet, but the demons showed no indication of moving. "Thuban! Get off! We're going to find Nero! I've gotta find him. I have to."

"Kid," Dante sighed. It was then I noticed the tears in the boy's eyes, his shoulders trembling. Dante stepped up to him and dropped his hand to the boy's silver hair. "You just focus on healing up. We're going to get Nero back. No matter what, I swear we'll get him back."

"We will," I whispered more to myself than them. "We have to."

Because I could no longer think of a world without him.

I couldn't think of anything but getting him back.

And killing every last person who'd taken him from me.

* * *

 **During Mockingbird, a couple commenters theorized that Fortuna was responsible for Nero disappearing, and I was like "No, but wouldn't that have been a good idea?"**

 **So kudos to y'all. Here's that story haha.**


	2. About Suffering

**Sorry for the massive delay. Depression is a bitch.**  
 **I hope this chapter has all the anxiety and angst you were hoping for.**

* * *

When I tried to shake my head to put the world back straight, the ground under my feet tilted. A crushing grip on my arm stopped me from stumbling back too far. My breaths started to feel too thin. I didn't like this, not being in control, not being able to see right. The world needed to stop moving so much, stop tilting. I wasn't having fun on this ride. I wanted off.

"I think you might have overdosed him a bit, sir. He doesn't look good."

I couldn't tell how long I'd been awake. My arms and legs felt so slow and heavy like I was trying to swim. Credo's voice was the first thing that seemed real. He was to my left, something solid that made sense.

"Honestly, he'll be fine," Sir said too close to me. He must have been the one holding my arm. "You worry too much, kiddo. Demons are tricksters. They'll take advantage of that weakness if you let them."

"Of course, Sir. I won't let that happen."

We must have been outside, somewhere colder than back home. Every breath showed up in front of my face like a cloud while I tried to squint my feet back into two instead of four. Under my feet was metal with big holes in it that showed the ground far, far below us. Gasping, I jerked my head back up just as Sir yanked me forward. My legs didn't want to work anymore.

We must have been on a bridge, railing closing us in and a long way down on the other side of it. There was only forward and back, but when I looked back over my shoulder, I saw high cliff walls. I really was trapped. Even if I did bite Sir's hand and break free, I had nowhere to go. The bridge led up to huge old doors and a giant stone building covered in spikes. It looked familiar like Credo and Sir had, like something I'd seen in a dream.

Being lost and trapped outside seemed better than whatever could be inside a castle. I tried digging my toes into the steps leading up to the door, but Sir just sighed and yanked me up by my arm so that my feet dangled in the air.

"Really, it's just easier on everyone if you just behave."

"I won't!" I kicked my feet, trying to hit him in the shins. "I'll never behave!"

"See, Credo? He's waking up." Sir dropped me back down to the top of the stairs, grinning like he had some reason to smile. "Maybe we should have kept the other kid as leverage."

I froze, and Credo gasped. "Sir, we couldn't-"

"Kidding! I'm kidding! You're so high-strung, kiddo. We need to bring you along next time we head to the bar so you can learn to loosen up."

Credo's cheeks turned pink while Sir laughed and rammed his shoulder into the big door. I hoped that hurt him because the door opened with a slow creak. It must have been heavy.

The inside looked like a church. I hadn't been in one in so long, but I remembered the chairs all in rows and having to sit for so long and just listen. I asked Evie once if I was going to have to go back to church again every week. She'd laughed when I told her that would be a long trip all the way back to Fortuna every single week.

"No, you don't have to go back," she said. "You never have to go back there."

I was little back then, so I didn't remember everything well, but I remembered that moment because I was so excited, so excited to not have to sit and listen to the man whose picture was staring me down across the room.

His Holiness.

Flashes of memories rushed back as my eyes shot around the room. They'd brought all the kids from the home here once. I'd tried to hide from the other kids under the chairs. I'd tried to hide there when everyone was leaving so maybe they'd never find me. I thought I could just live there alone in Fortuna castle.

I jerked myself back against Sir's grip. "No! I'm not supposed to be here! Take me back home! I need to go home right now!" I was never supposed to go back to Fortuna. Everyone promised. "If you don't let me go, my dad will come get you! He'll kill you!"

He would. Dad would come save me just like before.

Fighting did nothing. No matter how hard I tried to dig in my heels or pull at Sir's fingers, he kept walking forward. "You're not doing yourself any favors. I'll ask you one more time to stop and behave."

"No! Let go of me!"

Something cracked against my cheek. Just as Sir let go of my arm, my feet slipped out from under me. I put my hands out to catch myself, and the cold floor smacked into my palms. The side of my face throbbed with pain.

Sir sighed as he stood over me, flexing his hand in and out of a fist. "He's just as badly behaved as I'd heard, probably worse since he got taken."

"I'm not bad," I snarled. Talking made my jaw ache. "You're bad! You kidnapped me! You just hit me!"

"No crime in hitting a demon. Besides, I gave you multiple warnings." I wished he would have sounded angry instead of so calm. Something in the way he flashed another smile as he reached for me made me freeze up. If he'd been angry, I could have run away, but I was stuck there in fear, and I didn't know why.

"Sir."

Another arm appeared over me, blocking Sir's hand. I'd stopped paying attention to Credo, forgot he was even there. Sir must have too. "Your shift is over now, you know," Sir said. "Job's done."

"Well, not exactly." Credo shifted between his feet. "Let me take him from here. I'll finish the mission properly. I'm pretty used to dealing with a kid, you know."

"We've been over this."

"Yes, sir, I know. He's not a kid, but he acts just like one."

"That's their trick, though. Their face is false. Their act is a lie." Crossing his arms, Sir sighed. "You're too soft, kiddo. You need to buck up some, make your dad proud."

Credo's back shot straight. "I will! I can handle this, sir, I swear. Let me prove it."

"Alright, we'll put it to the test then." I couldn't help but flinch back when Sir smiled again in a way that should have been nice. People weren't supposed to smile when they hurt other people. Only demons did that. "I'm putting you in charge of him."

"In charge?" Credo echoed, eyes blank as he stared at the card Sir placed in his hand.

"Yep. Take him to his cell. I'll fix your schedule. You'll be his guard."

"Oh." Under his furrowed brows, Credo's eyes darted back and forth until he forced himself to look back up. His face set to stone. "Yes, sir."

"Remember to get back in your uniform," Sir called with a wave as he started off toward the heavy doors and blocked me from my only exit. "Can't have you going around in casual clothes on the job. Oh, and forty points!"

"Forty?" Credo eyes brightened and dimmed in an instant like a firework. "Kyrie is going to kill me. I was supposed to be home tonight." He offered me a hand, but I picked myself up, watching the heavy door open and shut. Before I could look for another way out, Credo's hand wrapped around my arm. Sir's grip had been like teeth sinking down to my bone, but Credo's was just a hand. I could have broken free and run away if I'd had somewhere to go.

"Come on," Credo said. His voice was trying too hard to be harsh and commanding. "Just a little further and then you don't have to get dragged around anymore."

"Sir said a cell. Like a prison cell? Am I a prisoner?"

"Sir? His name isn't- Well, I guess it doesn't matter." He shook his head as we started further into the castle. "You're not a prisoner. You're just… a captive."

I wasn't sure what the difference was. "Why?"

His lips pressed into a tight line, and his eyebrows stayed so pinched that I started to wonder if they were stuck that way.

Credo led us to a room like the library back home. From the rows of shelves and books, he tilted three books out until they clicked. The shelf in front of us swung back like a door. "I've seen this in a cartoon once," I said.

Credo said nothing, but it was easy to see the way his eyes narrowed at the steps leading down into darkness. He didn't like this place. I didn't either. The stairs just kept going, down and down into the dark.

Darkness swallowed everything - lights, warmth, people. When the world was too dark around me, I went back to the deep, damp cold where my arms burned.

"We're almost to the bottom," Credo said. I jumped against his voice, my hand tugging on a scrap of fabric. I found myself holding onto his sleeve. "It's alright," he said. "Nothing down here will get you."

I stuck close to his side just in case. The thought of turning and running back up screamed at me, but the darkness had closed up at our backs too. I couldn't turn around. I couldn't.

"I'm not a demon, okay?" I said. Sir would never believe me, but maybe Credo would. "Please let me go home. You can tell I'm human, right? I'm not a demon. My family fights demons. They'll tell you. Let me call them, and they can tell you. I know the phone number."

Credo sighed as we reached the last step. The hallway was dim and gray. Every step we took rang with metal. Credo wouldn't look at me anymore. "Please?" I tried again. Evie said being polite was better than demanding something. "I don't want to be here. I just want to go home."

Nothing worked. The hallways were a maze, and after a couple turns, I lost the way back. Everything looked the same. Through some doorways we passed, I saw flashes of strange light and weird machines that could have been for science or magic. Maybe both, like Evie's alchemy.

We turned into a room where all the walls were bars. It looked an awful lot like a prison to me. When I tried to pull back, Credo held my arm tighter. "Why did you make me come here?" I asked. "What did I do?"

He still wouldn't look at me, but he looked like it hurt him to breathe. Pulling me to the first cell, he swiped the card. The door beeped and slid open. The only light in the cell came in through the gaps in the bars, showing a cold, tiny room the size of Evie and Nonno's bed back home.

I looked up at Credo again, and for once, he looked back. When he opened his mouth, all that left him was a sigh, and he turned away again before shoving me into the cell. Stumbling forward, I heard the door rattle and click shut before I even got my balance back on my feet.

I was trapped again in another dark and empty place. But it would be fine. It had to be. Dad would find me again. He would.

Unless he didn't. He didn't know where I was. No one saw me get taken but Drew. Maybe Drew died out there alone, and it was my fault. Maybe I'd never go home.

"Breathe," Credo said. He stood just outside the door with his back turned. Though his face leaned toward me, his eyes were away. "You need to slow down and breathe."

"I'm trying. I'm trying." But I couldn't get enough air. It hurt to try, and I couldn't breathe fast enough, couldn't breathe deep enough. The air turned heavy and gray.

"Grab the blanket," Credo said. His tired brown eyes were on me now. "Put it around you and sit down with your head between your knees. And just slow down and breathe."

I tried it, curled up on the thin, creaky mattress with the even thinner, scratchy blanket pulled over my head. But it didn't take me out of the cell. I was still in Fortuna, and I couldn't breathe.

"You used to live here, right?" Credo asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. A long. Long time. Ago." Speaking made it harder to gasp in the pieces of air. My throat ached.

Credo started humming, his voice so low it sometimes faded to a whisper. I knew the song in an instant, even though I hadn't heard it in so long. We used to all sing it together in the big church. That was the only good part of church, everyone singing together and no one getting mad when I was off key. When Credo started to sing the words, I knew all of them, even though they were in a language I hadn't spoken in so long.

I just listened and tried to breathe until I was lying on my side, too tired to gasp for air anymore. My eyelids were so heavy, and the blanket was too thin. "Cold, cold," I felt myself mumbling.

"I'll see what I can do," Credo said. "I think I should find you some food first. You're probably starving. You know, some training would have been nice. I'm starting to think the captain just pushed this job off on me. That's just like him. Wait here. Er, well, I mean… I'll be back in just a few minutes."

A few minutes felt like such a long time. Without the song or my wheezing breaths, I could hear things through the walls - buzzing and tearing and screaming. I tried to cover my ears and shut it all out, but it just wasn't working.

I was going to die there.

* * *

I should have been able to do something. After all this time, I should have been able to do something . I was still such a failure, such a worthless father.

We should have gotten a ransom note, a phone call. Anything. That was the only reason I hadn't left the damn house to go looking like Dante. I was so useless. Surely an enemy of mine would have contacted me by now to gloat. Even one of the many demon bastards father had angered over the years could have no reason to just steal away my son without a word.

But demons didn't always follow reason and neither did humans. Not even twelve hours later and I felt as though I were hanging onto my last flimsy threads of sanity. I thought it had felt like an eternity before - running blind through the woods in search of him. That was nothing. At least we had a goal then. At least we had a reason for those hours of hell.

I couldn't say how long I'd spent pacing the living room. I'd tried to sit several times, but each time my eyes would fall to the boy who was still in our house for some unfathomable reason, safe and asleep against the source of his curse, and for that brief moment, I despised him. I wanted my son in his place. I would have traded them in an instant.

As soon as the vicious, black thoughts began, I would get back to my feet and pace once again until I lost all sense, all track of time. Everything blurred together, and then I would sit and start over again. By some miracle, I hadn't worn a hole in the floor yet.

The front door opened during another one of my endless circuits between the couch, kitchen, and dining room, the eyes of the boy's demon guard following me all the while. Dante promised to check in for news before sunrise, and I could see the touches of deep blue sky at his back through the trees. I knew he couldn't have found Nero, yet disappointment still bored into my chest at the sight of my brother standing there alone.

"Anything?" I asked even as I already saw the answer in his eyes. They held such guilt and exhaustion. He shouldn't have been the one feeling guilty when everything was my fault.

"Nothing," he said. "I checked with a few of my sources, and the most I got was that the crash that caused that jam was likely staged as you suspected, but the perpetrators did a good job sticking to the shadows. CCTV footage didn't offer more than a couple of grainy glimpses. The kid's descriptions were more helpful." Gesturing to Drew with one hand, he rubbed at his face with the other.

"We should get him home," I said. "It's late." He'd spent the same amount of time missing from his home, yet I knew no one felt a gnawing terror at his absence. No one combed the city for clues of his whereabouts. Regardless, children belonged at home.

"Yeah, we don't want to be another set of kidnappers. You got him?" Dante asked the demon. "Uh… Belphegor or something like that?"

"Thuban," I corrected, and Dante shrugged.

"I got a few letters right."

With a hiss, the beast showed its disapproval and roused the boy. Drew's head rose with the sluggish roll of a drunk. "Hm? Find Nero?"

"Not yet, but we will." Dante's smile was brittle and plastic. "For now, you need to get home, kid.

The boy snapped into wakefulness, his eyes ablaze. "No! Not until we find him!"

"I don't want more than one child away from his home tonight if we can help it," I said. "Thuban, please take him home. He should sleep in his own bed."

"It doesn't matter! No one cares if I'm not there!"

But the demon must have agreed as it curled one massive clawed foot around his back and dragged him off the couch. No matter Drew's screeching refusals, Thuban showed no hesitation in plucking him up by the back of his shirt and trotting toward the door like a mother cat with an unruly kitten.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll find him," Dante said, opening the door for the demon. As soon as it stepped into the open air, its massive wings flapped and sent a wave of dust into the house.

Within moments, Drew's cries of "Thuban, you bastard!" faded into the night sky. We both stared out into the darkness longer than necessary, lost in a silent, empty fragment of time. Dante was the one who managed to break it. "Forgot his trumpet," he said. "I'm sure he'll be back for it."

I nodded. They'd undoubtedly left it on purpose. Alongside the trumpet, my eyes fell to Nero's violin once again, and I crossed to where it lay on the coffee table. It was all they'd left behind of my son, the one thing he would have refused to leave. I found myself flicking open the latches on the case to take hold of the fragile instrument left inside. Despite the scuffs on the case, the violin remained as pristine as the day I'd picked it out with him. He'd always taken such good care of it.

The sight of it resting in my hands blurred. My eyes filled with burning tears that I could not stop from falling. I had to put the violin back in its case. I couldn't stand to look at it.

"We'll get him back," Dante hissed. His voice was trembling. "We'll find him. I don't care what it takes."

I nodded, wanting to believe him. "We should contact Father. He may be able to help, and at the very least he and Mom will want to know what's going on."

Dante winced against the idea. I had a feeling we shared the same memory of how excited our parents had been for their trip. They never took vacations, and Mom had spent months planning this one.

"Our enemies may have known they would be gone," I said. "Perhaps it has something to do with Father. If this is somehow connected to enemies of his, we may wish to keep this issue as quiet as possible."

"Can't you just call them? You got them cell phones, didn't you?"

"They are far out of service range. Besides, Father is as good at keeping up with his as you are."

He grumbled some lame excuse while rubbing at the back of his neck. His attachment to that old landline in his shop was beyond me. "So how are we going to tell them then?" he asked audibly.

Turning heel, I darted back toward the kitchen. Dante's boots followed after me. "We'll summon Modeus," I said. "He'll arrive shortly and should be able to track down Father without much trouble. He's always been loyal as a dog to Father, so I believe he'll carry this out for us."

On the kitchen counter lay a notepad Mom always used for grocery lists. She'd left a half-finished one for us so she wouldn't come home to an empty fridge. Under "oatmeal for Nero - he likes the dinosaur one," I wrote only "come home immediately."

"You're not going to explain what's going on?" Dante asked, his brows knit.

"I don't want this information getting out to any demons besides Father, not even Modeus. If one of them were to find him before us…" I set the pen down before I could snap it in two.

"We can trust Modeus, though."

"No. Someone already knew too much, and they took my son. Any stranger on the street or any demon could be involved, and I will not give out any further information until I've seen the life drain from their eyes and I know Nero is safe again."

Dante breathed a sigh, but he did not argue. "Alright, what weird summoning ritual do we need to use to get pretty-boy here?"

* * *

Dad always woke me up by patting my shoulder. Evie would brush my hair out of my face, and Nonno would just pick me up out of bed and say, "Good morning!"

None of them were with me this time. I woke up to a glass of water being pushed into my hands. "You'll have to eat quickly. They want you in the lab immediately." Credo's voice was thin, and he kept looking from me to the door. "Sorry I couldn't get you anything warm." He handed me some bread that looked kind of like a crescent roll and a lot like it had gotten squished. "Getting it in here didn't go as well as I'd hoped," Credo muttered.

My stomach was too sick to want any food, but I ate it anyway. It felt like rocks in my stomach. The water wasn't cold, and I didn't finish much of it before Credo's hand wrapped around mine and pulled me out of the cell.

"Where are we going?" I asked. My eyes were still heavy from crying, and I couldn't rub the sticky feeling away. "What's the lab?"

"It's, uh, it's like going to the doctor. They're going to run some tests, and hopefully it won't take too long."

He wouldn't look at me again.

We went past all the strange noises and doors and corners until I was lost and everything was cold metal. Our steps were loud like when Yamato and Rebellion crashed together. The room we stopped in had a big glass window, but it didn't show outside. The floor hummed like a cello, deep and low.

"You're late," a man barked as he stepped out from behind some cabinet doors. When he tried to talk again, he had trouble with the words. They didn't want to leave his mouth for some reason, but Credo didn't look surprised, so maybe that was normal. "Why isn't he restrained? Put him on the table."

"Come here," Credo said too quiet for the other man to hear. He picked me up under my arms and sat me on a metal table that was so cold that I shivered. "Try to stay calm and hold still."

With a click, a rough belt tightened around my right ankle. Before I could pull my left leg away, Credo grabbed it and locked it in place too. "Hey! What are you doing!?" I tried to reach down and grab the belts, but the man whose words didn't like him grabbed my wrist.

"Honestly, are you even trying? It can't be hard to tie down a child." Up close, the man looked like he needed to take a bath. He was kind of greasy, but that wasn't going to stop me from leaning over to bite him.

Credo did stop me. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me back. "Nero, don't!" He sounded stressed instead of angry. Before he even let go of my shirt, the greasy man's hand closed around my throat and slammed me down onto the table. It hurt. It hurt so much. It felt like being hit by Sir again and again, and I couldn't breathe.

"Behave yourself," the man spat. "I have no patience for children."

"Enough, Angus! I will not let you harm him."

"I am your superior, boy. You don't give me orders." He sounded scared, his words falling apart more. The hand around my neck let go, and I gasped for air. My wrists were both tied like my ankles. Pulling against them did nothing. Above me, a sword as big as Rebellion stood between Credo's hand and Agnus's throat.

"I was assigned as his guard," Credo said. For the first time, he looked angry instead of sorry. His eyes were dark. "That includes keeping him in one piece. Sanctus said he was important, so do your tests, but you will not hurt him. I've heard of what you do, and I'm not going to take my eyes off you for even a moment. Don't you dare try anything."

Agnus smiled like a dog snarling and raised his hands up by his shoulders. "Very well. No harm will come to the child. You have my word. I'll just be taking some blood and doing a basic exam."

"Do not take my blood." I tried to yell, but my voice was all scratchy. Agnus didn't pay any attention to me.

"You, however," he said, "are proving yourself quite an impressive Knight. Just like your father."

Credo had looked so happy when Sir said it, but fire filled his eyes when Agnus did. The sword shook as he put it back on his side.

"You deserve a reward." Agnus's smile was worse than Sir's somehow. Scarier. "Why don't we go ahead and see how you fare against the Ascension Ceremony? I'll have you bumped up in line. It's quite an honor for a Knight as new as yourself."

Credo took a deep breath, his eyes wide and his face all white. "Yes… that would be… It would be an honor." He swallowed, and his eyes turned dark again. "But do watch yourself around the child. I will offer you no favors in return."

Clicking his tongue, Agnus turned away as his smile fell. "Fine." He grabbed something from a table, but before I could see what it was, Credo put his hand over my eyes.

"Deep breaths," he said. "This will be over soon."

"Don't let him take my blood," I whispered. "He's weird and gross. Why does he want to take my blood?"

"He's just going to do a blood test. Doctors do it all the time."

"He's a doctor?"

Credo didn't answer, and something stabbed into my arm again. I tried to fight. I didn't want to be dizzy and sick like yesterday, but the pain stayed. My arm felt fuzzy after a while.

"I think that's enough," Credo said. His hand stayed over my eyes. "He's hardly had much to eat. Move on to whatever else you feel you must do."

Agnus did a lot of grumbling through all the tests. He had a lot of them. He tested my eyes, my ears, my teeth, and made me solve some puzzles that were easier than the ones I did with Dad. Credo watched him the whole time.

When Agnus said something about "advanced healing," Credo started unlocking the belts.

"It's time to get him lunch," Credo said. "He's still pale from having blood drawn. I think you have everything you need."

"Quite eager for your ceremony, aren't you?" Agnus snarled.

Credo's glare was the scarier one this time. "Very. Schedule it as you wish. Come on, Nero."

He let me reach out and take his hand as I stepped down from the table. The world tilted a little, but I held tight to Credo's hand. He made sure I didn't fall.


End file.
